Core Construction is Vital to Cable Life

Home / Powering Your Process / Core Construction is Vital to Cable Life

Most construction failures are easy to identify—from the inside. The evidence is in the tear down. We see quite a few catastrophic power cable breakdowns, and unfortunately, symptoms are not usually apparent until after premature failure happens. Our experience has shown construction failures most often occur due to poor conductor bundling, an improperly sized and designed core hose, and insufficient coolant flow.

Frustratingly, the internal wire bundle package just isn’t visible unless the cable is torn down. The best designs are secured wire packages to prevent excessive chaff and friction during electrical cycling. Copper conductors forming the wire package are bundled to create the most efficient geometry for bend radius, and to maximize electrical efficiency, thereby reducing power loss. Signs of poor conductor bundling are usually premature wire breakage and damage to the core hose.

Core hose strength is paramount to maintaining cable integrity. Telltale signs of weak core hose construction is use of soft low-durometer rubber compounds of single or 2-ply construction that often collapse offering little structural support. Additionally, perforations cut or drilled into the core hose to allow coolant further weaken the cable core reducing electrical efficiency and integrity of the wire package. Without proper coolant flow conductors can become embrittled, and in the worst cases can catastrophically melt.

A number of well-designed approaches to good core engineering exist. I2r POWER recommends installing and securing high-temperature engineered plastic wedges at the ends of the core hose to uniformly force coolant around the conductor bundle. Additional considerations for cable repair and maintenance include amount of current, cable length, number of cables per phase, amount of coolant, arrangement of cable installation, number and size of copper conductors, as well as terminal design.

Our advice: When it’s time to schedule power cable maintenance, confirm with your supplier that a proper core design is carefully considered.

Have questions about this topic?

More Articles

Kent State aeronautics and engineering building

Power Cable Donation to Kent State enhances student experience

Power Cable Donation to Kent State enhances student experience I2r POWER recently provided two new sets of water-cooled power cables to the foundry and metal casting facility at Kent State University’s College of Aeronautics and […]

Read More
I2r POWER Holiday Party 2022

End-of-Year Holidays Time to Express Gratitude

End-of-Year Holidays Time to Express Gratitude It’s time to celebrate a successful, though at times difficult, year! We made it! The company holiday party is an ideal time to share our gratitude for all those […]

Read More
Electromagnetic Caster Stirrer designs

Electromagnetic caster stirrer designs vary depending on use

Electromagnetic caster stirrer designs vary depending on use Electromagnetic stirrers for steel applications produce very low frequency, high amplitude magnetic fields to agitate steel when molten. Steel applications include ladle stirring and stirring in continuous […]

Read More
speech bubbles

Eager to find solutions, I2r POWER responds with collaboration, hand-crafted quality and accountability.

- OUR MISSION